AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That was some good news at least. The bad news was my emotions were all twisted up, fear for Harvey making me weak, and sympathy for Wynvail snuck in.
But Cronus could never know. I didn’t know how or why but Cronuscouldn’tknow Wynvail was helping us.
"You're a sick fuck," I fake-snarled at Wynvail, rearing back like he'd insulted everything I loved.
He flinched, and my heart sank. Oh, gods. Why did he flinch?
He recovered in the next moment, climbing to his feet with a smirk as he realised I was following his own instructions. "That I may be, honey. But I'm the reason you're all alive."
"Until you kill my mates," I spat.
He shrugged, something dead in his eyes. "Strangely enough, it's not my choice to kill them. But needs must." He grinned. "And then I get you all to myself. You'll like that, won't you, Halwen? My undivided attention. A needy, desperate thing like you? You'll climb over your mates' bodies to get to me."
I launched forward, my upper lip curled back and a deep, guttural sound in my throat, but Harvey's wings snapped around me and his fingers hooked in the collar of my shirt.
"He's just goading you," he said loudly, and then in my ear, "It's all for show, Sugarplum. Look at his eyes; he doesn't believe a single word he's saying. He looks practically dead."
I swallowed, glancing away from Wynvail and hugging Harvey close. I hated that asshole; I didn't need to be feeling sorry for him. "Are you okay?" I murmured, my fingers returning to his shaggy hair, stroking with careful movements. I still wasn't sure where he was hurt.
"No," he replied baldly, pressing a kiss to my shoulder. "But none of us are. I'll be fine."
"What happened?" I asked hesitantly.
"I was—back in the basement," Harvey whispered, and he needn't say any more. Images hit me one after another, nightmares conjured from my own imagination and what little details I knew from my mates.
Two metal cots, bare of anything but a thin mattress and dirty sheets, with mould on the walls and a bucket, and scant food on plastic plates—so they couldn't use them as weapons. And above it, a glittering manor house where the mayor put on galas and soirées and apparently paraded Wynvail about like a golden child.
Emlyn had gone to the same mental place I did because his composure snapped and he grabbed both of us into a vicious, sweltering hug.
"No onehurts my family," he growled, the sound vibrating through my side, shaking my sore ribs and crushed wing.
A tiny smile flicked up the edge of Harvey's mouth. "Remember when you threw that chaura demon onto a cart full of hay and shit because he called me an inbred half-breed?"
"Threw him," Em scoffed, wrapping his whole self around us, wings overlapping wings, leather laid on feathers. "I gave him a tiny shove. It's not my fault his balance was pitiful. He tripped."
Harvey laughed, a low chuff of sound. "Sure, Em. Like the time that mouthy bastardtrippedwhen you knocked him off a balcony."
"He had wings," Emlyn dismissed, his cheeks rounding with a smile.
"And he called me a cheap, five-silver whore," I input. "Which is rude. I'm a five-goldwhore at the very least."1
"You're worth more than all the gold in Hell," Emlyn said ardently. There was nothing but love in his eyes when he held eye contact, stroking down my wing.
"What about me?" Harvey asked, some amusement colouring his voice.
"One silver," Em replied without missing a beat. "Five on a good day."
He ruffled Harvey's hair and let go, standing to give Wynvail another warning glare. He was handing those out like pigeons gifted shit lately.2
"I'll be fine," Harvey murmured when he caught me watching him, unable to hide my concern. He disentangled his wings from mine and helped me stand. "Let's find Kai and get the hell out of this place. I want my brother back."
I gave him a weak smile, covering up how much my ribs hurt when I moved. "Me, too."
"Are you—coping?" he asked, brows coming low over his eyes. "With him being away from you and—"
"At the mercy of a heartless titan?" I finished when he couldn't. "I wouldn't call itcoping,but I'm alive and angry and that's better than dead."
Warm lips found my cheekbone, the kiss lingering as Harvey pulled me into another hug.
